Stormy Nights
by Dear Aunt Elladora
Summary: A storm leaves Tommy and Lil, aged 16, stranded in the DeVille household alone. There the two old friends must come to some terms about their unspoken attraction to one another. TommyLil and minor KimiPhil.


_My night is turning out great_, Lil thought sarcastically to herself as another roll of thunder caused her to jump. Her parents were off on a weekend excursion, whatever that meant -- Lil had ignored the details because the thought of her parents... well, that was just disgusting. And Phil, her twin brother, had headed over to the Finster house for the night. That left her sixteen-year old self to have the house to herself, a luxury that would be stupid to pass up.

Of course, dinner had prooved as a problem. Only mere minutes before, while she was attempting to prepare Ramen noodles, the sleeve of her long-sleeve shirt had caught fire and she had panicked, throwing it off and pouring the pot of not-nearly boiling water atop it. Then she heard rustling with her front door, and now she stood, frozen in place.

Noises distinguishable as steps made their way to the kitchen and Lil clenched her calves with nerves, too scared to move. A big, dark figure rounded the corner and before he dropped his large raincoat to reveal his face, Lil screamed. The rain jacket fell to the floor to reveal a very shocked Tommy Pickles.

"Oh, Tommy," she breathed out in relief, "Thank Kimi's knickers it's just you." She steadied herself against the counter but as Tommy's eyes only shot up further, she realized what exactly his shock was. In all her relief, she hadn't realized she was standing in front her oldest friend dressed in nothing but a pair of blue-jeans and a black bra.

"Shit!" she cursed, "Oh, I've gotta go get a shirt. Mine, you see, caught on fire." Tommy's eyes darted from her figure to the mess on the floor, his eyebrows crinkling together in confusion. But before he could ask her a question, she nodded her head. "Don't ask."

She walked toward him, still in the hall, to head toward the staircase upstairs when another strike of lightening sunk the house into darkness, and a roll of thunder caused her to jump, unfortunatly, into his arms.

"Sorry," she breathed and he felt her warm breath on his damp chest. "I'll go get the flashlight," she said softly, slowly pulling her arms back from behind his damp back and walking back into the kitchen, into the pantry to retrieve an orange flashlight from the top shelf. She thanked her lucky stars it had fresh batteries, then turned it on to shine toward Tommy.

"I'll be needing that shirt now," she said, suddenly self-conciense, wrapping her arms over her chest. She made her way toward the steps and was half-way down the hall when she called back to Tommy in the kitchen.

"Um, would you mind coming up here? It's dark and ..."

"You don't like thunderstorms," he finished her sentence goodnaturedly as he beamed the flashlight toward her, and she continued up the steps with him a few behind. He gulped as quietly as he could, for seeing any girl without a shirt was enough to send him over the edge. He tried to keep his eyes on the lone purple streak in her ponytail than the inches of her back he was seeing.

"Tommy?" she called, turning, and interrupting his thoughts, "I am not afraid of thunderstorms."

"Yeah, right." they had reached her room and she opened the door, him following after and she dug through the drawers. He had been in Lil's room plenty of times in the past, but not in the last 2 years at least, for she was always in Phil's room with the rest of the gang. Now he felt kind of like he was intruding, and he fixated his eyes on the picture on her nightstand as she pulled on another top.

"All better." She said, smiling and taking the flashlight from his hands.

"Hey! Not fair!" he said, running after her as she descended the steps.

"I'm not afraid of storms, but even if I were, that doesn't beat you being afraid of the dark!"

"I am not!" he protested as they settled on the dark living room couch.

"Denial is so unnattractive, Pickles," she said, lighting some candles on the table so they could save the flashlight's batteries. Another thunderclap rumbled outside and rain pelted the windows, Lil trying to hide her jump of fear.

"So is hypocrisy!" He responded, referring to her denial of her fear of storms.

She laughed at this, covering her heart with her hand. "Touche!" After their laughter had settled, she turned to him.

"So, not to be rude, but why are you here?"

"An anonymous tip you'd be topless, of course," he responded, smiling, and she knew it was a joke. "No," he began again, "I was coming to see your brother. But if I had known you'd be half-dressed I would've come earlier!" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, but not seriously, as the two laughed some more.

"He's at Chuck's," she said after a pause.

"But..." Tommy said slowly, eyebrows knitting for the second time that evening, "Chuckie's out of town on a father-son bonding trip with his dad and Kira's pulling shifts at Java Lava."

Lil squealed, "Evidence!" And Tommy nodded his head. The two had had dawning suspicions of Kimi and Phil being romantically involved, but the only thing they had were assumptions.

"Doesn't that seem kindof weird though?" She asked, her voice kind of far of.

"What?" Tommy asked, "Did you always think it'd be Kimi and me hooking up or something?"

"No!" she cried incredulously, "Just, Kimi and Phil have known each other for how long?"

"Forever?" Tommy questioned.

"Well, not really, not as long as I've known you or anything like that. But a good long while."

"And that's weird?"

"Well, yeah, most kids that are friends when they're toddlers don't really grow up and stick together."

"Um, we still hang out with the exact same toddlers we used to watch Dummy Bears with."

"Yeah, well, we're kindof sad in that respect. But, back to what I was saying, they don't stay friends -- much less, you know, date."

"Aw, Lil, I think it's cute."

It was Lil's turn to raise an eyebrow, "Cute? Tommy? Guys don't usually use that word." She was smirking as he hit her with a couch pillow and she shreiked with laughter.

"Call me a romantic," he said, striking a dramatic pose from his seated position on the couch and having Lil strike him with a pillow. "But I think it's cool that they are together."

"Ew!" she said, but then thought about it, "Yeah, I can see that. I just think Kimi can do so much better than my brother!"

"Your brother is one of those few nice guys, though he isn't to you. And Kimi's hot!"

She burst into fits of giggles as Tommy raised an eyebrow, "What?! She is!"

"Oh, I know, but this conversation's so weird!"

"I guess I see your point."

"But I can see where Kimi's coming from. Slightly," Lil said, the far-away tone in her voice again. "Knowing someone for so long, seeing them in every situation possible. Bad acne, horrid braces, the fat years."

"Seeing their lowest low and highest high and not having to explain the skeletons in your closets," Tommy continued, looking sideways at Lil.

"Not going through those awkward 'getting-to-know-you' moments with new dates."

"Seeing them in only a towel and trying to supress your hormones."

"Tommy!" Lil shreiked and Tommy blushed crimson.

"Did I just say that aloud!?" He said and she cracked up at his expression.

"So you _and _my brother have feelings for Kimi?!" She said, insinuating the towel moment had been one about Kimi.

"No!" he said quickly, shaking his head.

"Oh, then ... you made it up?"

"Something like that."

"Oh." She said, and an awkward silence settled over them.

"It was you." He said suddenly, after the silence got unbearable.

"What?!" she cried, their cheeks both painted with a blush.

"Three years ago," he continued and she looked at him increduosly.

"Well, good to know you can control your hormones," she said softly, but no longer had the words escaped her mouth that he noticed their legs were so close, they were almost on top of one another. He could here her heart thumping as he turned to face her and their eyes locked.

"It's kindof," he said slowly, not breaking eye contact, "hard."

"Yeah," she responded in the same nature, "I know." And slowly, inch by inch, their lips moved closer and closer until the space between them was closed and they were sufficently kissing.

_My night is so great,_ Lil thought to herself, smiling as she kissed Tommy, not a hint of sarcasm tinging her thoughts.

* * *

**Author's note: **oh, gosh, I miss Zane. This is mucho-sad. Well, before I go off into tangents, let us label this fic a big _Finally!_ It's about eight years in the making ... well, not really, but about eight years ago an elementry-age me fell head over heels for this show about this babies... And then I was bored and watched "All Growed Up," fell in love with Lil in DREADLOCKS, and Tommy correcting that old woman's grammer in that Campire movie and Dil in general - of course, around the bored time I was headfirst in my fanfiction obsession (which began, oh, three years ago? Doesn't seem that long ago!) and so... mwahahah. Claps. Well, that's that folks. Um, as far as shipping for RR goes, I'm all for Kimi/Phil or Kimi/Chuckie or, hell, even Tommy/Chuckie! Now THAT would be something to read! Okay, well, this note is unending! But, anyways, (I forgot what I was going to say) (oh yeah, now I remember) this'll be my last RR fic ... and it's my first... but anyways, tangenting much, unless I get mucho inspired their won't be another. And d'you know what inspires me? Really nice reviews! Let me know the RR fanficcing community is nice enough to welcome me and I may toss in some K/P action. ::puppy dog face:: OKAY, this is so long, hahahahah, I need to go to bed! Love y'all!

**_Review, please?_**


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